Reifer: Moore not ready

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate in the St George North by-election Floyd Reifer has charged that his Barbados Labour Party (BLP) opponent is not ready for the hard work required of a representative of the constituency.

During a brief speech at his party’s spot meeting on Thursday in Flat Rock, he accused Toni Moore of only being interested in the constituency on paper.

“Now, in her first meeting at Flat Rock, I heard my opponent say she buys bread from Ms Carter, she does come around here, and she went to church [here]. She also said she travels a lot, and this person and the next person will look after you. So she wants to represent you on WhatsApp? This is who they sent – a WhatsApp MP, a woman that everyone knows is just looking to climb the ladder, a woman that everyone knows sold out the workers in this country,” Reifer alleged.

Calling Moore’s track record into question, he pointed out that the trade unionist was adamant in her demands for a significant pay rise for workers before the 2018 polls, yet settled for much less when the BLP administration took over.

“Flat Rock, we are not stupid. Before the 2018 general election, the Barbados Workers’ Union, under the leadership of Toni Moore, demanded a 15 per cent pay increase across the board. The increase was to be retroactive to 2016. This is a woman that marched all through Bridgetown and lit fires under the DLP for this raise. In 2018, a few weeks after the general election, the Barbados Workers’ Union, under the same Ms Moore, accepted five per cent. Shame! Now if that is not selling out the workers, I don’t know what is,” he sneered.

Reifer also took the administration to task for its recent announcement of plans for the development of various areas in the rural parish, and insisted that residents were looking not for handouts but for more opportunities to do honest work.

“I know this community and I know the people are hardworking and resilient. We don’t take kindly to handouts and ‘corned beef and biscuit’ politics. We are about development, we don’t want no handouts. We are a proud people just looking for opportunities to make an honest living,” he declared. (SB)